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ODRAZ B92, Belgrade Daily News Service
Odraz B92 vesti (by 2 PM), January 14, 1997
e-mail: beograd@siicom.com URL: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/
odrazb92@b92.opennet.org http://www.siicom.com/b92/
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All texts are Copyright 1997 Radio B92. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED.
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NEWS BY 2 PM
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SEVERAL HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE IN BELGRADE'S REPUBLIC SQUARE
Several hundred thousand of Belgraders, according to the Belgrade
daily press even up to 500,000, flooded the downtown Belgrade last
night to join the celebration of the Ortodox New Year's Eve.
Republic and Terazije Squares as well as the off streets were
packed solid with people ``armed'' with whistles, sirens, drums
and good spirits. The protest march, unhindered by the police,
lasted all night, down Srpskih Vladara Street, Belgrade's main
thoroughfare and Knez Mihajlova Street, the pedestrian precinct.
There were, in fact, no signs of the police apart from the few
traffic police members. A stage was set up in Republic Square to
host a programme by numerous music and drama artists. Although the
public address system provided for this occasion was powerful, the
programme was difficult to follow for the thousands of whistles
and sirens making enormous noise. A recorded felicitation by
Serbian Patriarch Pavle was played to the crowds, blessing the
gathering. Fireworks and red torches marked the midnight. The
Zajedno leaders wished the crowds a happy New Year. Zoran
Djindjic, head of the Democratic Party (DS) said: ``We expect this
will be the year of Serbian victory. Belgrade is today centre of
the world once again.'' Vuk Draskovic, head of the Serbian Renewal
Movement (SPO) said this is no occasion for too big a celebration
for Serbia is still a prison and its citizens the prisoners.
``Serbia must get out of prison this year, and become a free
state. The condition for this is the acknowledgement of the
electoral will of the people of November 17,'' said Draskovic. A
gig begun after midnight, featuring some of the best Serbian rock
bands.
HUNDRED THOUSAND NISANS CELEBRATE NEW YEAR'S EVE IN CENTRAL CITY
SQUARE
Upwards of a hundred thousand Nisans celebrated last night the
Ortodox New Year's Eve in Nis's central square. The celebration
was organized by the coalition Zajedno, who announced their
victory in the local elections in this city. Just before the
beginning of the celebration, the gathered Nisans carried by
acclamation the proposal that a new City Assembly be constituted
with 41 Zajedno deputies. The downtown Nis was crowded with the
Zajedno supporters, taxis, students, pensioners, people from the
neighbouring towns and villages. Thousands of whistles and
firecrackers resounded in the town, over which spectacular fire-
works were set of by a special crew that had arrived from
Kragujevac for this occasion. The citizens were treated to a baked
ox, flat-bread and drinks provided by hundreds of sponsors from
Nis and neighbourning towns. The first to wish the crowds a happy
New Year was vice-president of Serbian Renewal Movement in Nis,
Zvonimir Budic who said this year will be inscribed in the Serbian
history in golden letters for the Zajedno victory in the local
elections. The celebration continued into the morning hours.
Neither any incidents nor police occurred in the streets of Nis,
reports FoNet.
DNEVNI TELEGRAF: GOVERNMENT WILL ANNOUNCE OPPOSITION VICTORY TODAY
OR TOMORROW
The Serbian Government will today, or tomorrow the latest, issue a
statement acknowledging the opposition victory in the local
elections in 13 cities and 9 Belgrade municipalities with the
exclusion of the Belgrade City Assenbly, learns the daily Dnevni
Telegraf from sources close to the Serbian Government. The source
claims that the Serbian Ministry of Justice has found
irregularities in the electoral procedures and sent its reports of
these to the Serbian Government. The Ministry did not, however,
examine the procedures of the elections for the Belgrade City
Assembly, for the Serbian Supreme Court had already established
these electoral results. ``What the proportion in the City
Assembly will be is entirely up to a political settlement among
the parties,'' said the Dnevni Telegraf's source. In the case of
Nis, the Ministy established that the minutes were changed on the
way from the polling stations to the Nis Elecoral Commission.
According to Dnevni Telegraf's source, the Ministry is not
authorized to bring legal suits against those who perpetrated
electoral frauds. This is the job of Republic Public Prosecutor at
his own initiative or if the Serbian Government demands it.
NASA BORBA: DRASKOVIC CALLS STUDENTS IDIOTS
Instead of the representatives of the Student Protest 96/97, who
were expected to wish a happy New Year to the citizens at midnight
last night, the Zajedno leaders appeared on the stage. The daily
Nasa Borba has learned that the Steering Board of the Student
Protest was prevented from coming to the stage just before
mignight. The members of the Steering Board told Nasa Borba that
Vuk Draskovic, one of the Zajedno leaders and head of the Serbian
Renewal Movement, and his wife Danica said to the student
representatives that they were not welcome around Republic Square.
The Draskovics told the students that it was not their deserve
that Serbia was protesting and that they had nothing to do with
the whole thing. ``You would not exist if it were not for us.
These people have not come to see you,'' said the pair. During the
whole incident, one of Draskovic's body guards was holding Pedja
Antic, head of the studnents' Steering Board by the collar of his
jacket. The members of the Steering Board told Nasa Borba that the
the Draskovics called them idiots. The students stated, however,
that Zoran Djindjic, one of the Zajedno leaders and head of the
Democratic Party had nothing to do with the incident.
VENTO: CONSEQUENCES OF REFUSING TO ACKNOWLEDGE ELECTORAL RESUTLS
IN SERBIA VERY SERIOUS
Bruce Vento, chief of the U.S. congressorial delegation to
Montenegro has warned that even Montenegro, sharing one state with
Serbia, who is refusing to respect the electoral will of its
people, could be faced with serious consequences, reports Montena
Fax. ``It could be a great hinderance to re-entrance of your
contry into the international community,'' he said urging
Montenegro to put its efforts in solving this problem promptly.
MAROVIC'S REPLY TO KILIBARDA
Novak Kilibarda, one of the leaders of the Montenegrin opposition
coalition Narodna Sloga has sent a letter to Svetozar Marovic,
speaker of the Montenegrin Parliament and vice-president of the
ruling Socialist Democratic Party of Montenegro (DPS). The letter
urged Marovic to see that his party withdraws its consent in the
Federal Parliament to the ban on live TV broadcasts of the Federal
Parliament sessions. ``If the Socialist Party of Serbia still
upheld the ban on live broadcasts, Mr Marovic's duty is to make
the broadcasts for the Montenegrin audiences possible. This would
contribute to revealing the major culprits for the current
political crisis in the country,'' read the letter. Marovic's
reply to the letter was a single sentence, reports Montena Fax:
``With regard to your letter, I wish to inform you that,
considering the real and the possible, I remain trully committed
to the democratic principles of modern societies.''
U.S. ON PANGALOS'S VISIT TO BELGRADE
The U.S. administration has publicly thanked Greek Foreign
Minister Teodoros Pangalos for his effort to persuade Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic that the European Union is unanimous
in its support to the report of the Organization for Security and
Co-operation in Europe, reports for FoNet Slobodan Pavlovic. The
Administration representative, Nicholas Burns assessed as
impressive the unaninimity with which the Contact group in its
meeting in Brussels last Saturday demanded that Serbian President
Slobodan Milosevic recognize all disputed electoral results and
provides the necessary conditions for changes in Serbia. He stated
that the U.S. have cut all political and economic relations with
Serbia since the eruption of the crisis over the local electoral
results. He also said that Washington is stepping up its work on a
programme for U.S. aid to the opposition, the independent media,
non-governmental organizations and other democratic forces in
Serbia. The aid will be similar in form to that which had been
used in the countries of Easter Europe and the former Soviet
Union.
DE CHARETTE TALKS WITH VESNA PESIC
French Foreign Minister Ervet De Charette had talks with Vesna
Pesic, one of the Zajedno leaders and head of the Civil Alliance
of Serbia, in Paris yesterday, Reuters reports. He told the press
after the meeting that France has been pressurizing Belgrade since
begining of the crisis that a peaceful and democratic solution be
found. He reiterated France's warnings to Serbia that local
electoral results must be respected and a dialogue between the
Serbian authorities and the opposition be renewed. Pesic expressed
her ``extreme satisfaction'' with the talks she had with the
French Foreign Minister but left further details for the press
conference she is to hold after her meeting with Lionnel
Josepenne, the leader of the French oppositon Socialist Party.
Asked whether France intends to cut economic relations with
Belgrade, the spokesman of the French Foreign Minister said France
will continue political and diplomatic pressure rather than
economis, for Pesic warned against any measures that affect common
people in Serbia since the Serb nationalists have been useing such
actions to their ends.
NEWS IN BRIEF
The Belgrade Electoral Commission convened today. It rejected the
rulings by the First Municipal Court of Belgrade annuling 45
mandates. According to the Commission's decision, Zajedno has 60
representatives in the City Assembly, the leftist coalition (SPS-
JUL) 23, the Radicals 15 and the Democratic Party of Serbia 2. The
fate of the remaining 10 disputed seats, for which 3rd and 4th
electoral rounds were called, is to be decided over the next 3
days.
The information service of the Serbian Parliament has announced
that a panel is scheduled for 8 p.m. tonight, which will be
broadcast live by Channel 2 of the Radio Television Serbia.
Some 20,000 citizens of Novi Sad celebrated the Ortodox New Year
in the city's central Liberty Square, while over 50,000 citizens
of Kragujevac turned to their hometown's central streets for the
same occasion.
21 window panes were smashed on the Belgrade's Bajkarli mosk last
night. The incident occurred after the last evening service in the
mosk, so that there were none present at the moment of the
incident. The police appeared on the spot only this morning. This
has been the 7th attack on the mosk since 1992.
OPEN LETTER TO RTS GENERAL MANAGER
An open letter signed by all employees of the (state) Radio
Television Serbia (RTS) was sent to their General Manager. It
stressed the staff's concern over the fate of their colleagues
after the new Law on Working Relationships has been adopted. The
law provides for firing those on forced leaves, and these have
been many in this company and mainly for the reason of disobeying
the company's restrictions on expression. The letter pinpoints the
case of Mladen Popovic, arts programme editor, who has been
punished by a forced leave for expressing his political beliefs
outside of work. The RTS staff urge their general manager to
revoke this decision.
Prepared by: Aleksandra Scepanovic
Edited by: (not edited; to be resent upon editing)
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ODRAZ B92, Belgrade Daily News Service
e-mail: beograd@siicom.com URL: http://www.siicom.com/odrazb/
odrazb92@b92.opennet.org http://www.siicom.com/b92/
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